Oct. 28, 2021

Dear UAF faculty and staff,

Pursuant to President Pitney’s Oct. 18 decisions for UAF to stick with the process of seeking authority for narrow vaccine requirements, I continue to receive requests for a vaccination requirement for specific units and activities. The Operations Support Team reviews these requests and makes a recommendation to me. I then make a formal request to President Pitney for a final decision. We are working through broader requests (such as all lab classes) so that they may be constructed in a way that is consistent with the president’s direction regarding the necessity of narrowly applied COVID-19 vaccine requirements.

In her response memo, the president referred to potentially looming federal requirements. As you may know, President Biden issued executive order 14042, which established that employees of federal contractors be vaccinated against COVID-19. 

There has been a national dialogue on the legality and enforceability of this order, but the fact remains that a significant amount of UAF research is federally funded, either as a grant or a contract. As a major research university, UAF works with a wide range of federal agencies, and we have begun receiving requests for contract modifications that would themselves trigger COVID-19 vaccine requirements for employees at UAF. This is a complex legal question and we appreciate the Office of the General Counsel for its assistance in interpreting the landscape. Since accepting modifications would in all likelihood trigger a broad vaccine requirement at UAF, and that requires approval of the president, I am working closely with President Pitney on our path forward. I expect additional communication in the coming days as this discussion matures.

We are monitoring the situation closely, and I will continue to communicate with you as we learn more. Thank you for your work to stay informed, and thanks for choosing UAF.

— Dan White, chancellor